Dental Support Specialties Blog

Finding a dental practice that accepts dental insurance is an attractive convenience for many patients. Being able to use their insurance simplifies their life and keeps their out-of-pocket costs down, but it can complicate your end significantly. Insurance verification is a necessary step if you want to get paid on time without frustrating your patients. But how can you make this step easier for you and your team? Check out these three tips!

When you decided to become a dentist when you “grow up,” you went to dental school to learn the techniques and technical skills you’d use on the job. You also take a certain number of continuing coursework to take your knowledge to the next level. Unfortunately, you could be the most clinically experienced, savvy, and friendly dentist and still have a struggling practice.

That’s because running a practice isn’t just about your technical prowess or your people skills—it also requires business acumen. If you aren’t familiar with it, accounts receivable recovery can be a confusing area of owning and operating a small business. Watch out for these three common problems that many dental practices face, but know that Dental Support Specialties can help you bring in revenue.

Unless you live and breathe dental insurance, working with it can be complicated. Even seasoned administrative professionals can get confused by the language in policies, and it can be helpful to get back to the basics. Instead of getting overwhelmed by all the information on the breakdown form, here are the little bits you need to understand and then explain to your patient. That way, they aren’t likely to be angry when they owe money at the end of their appointment.

Insurance verification—it’s a necessary evil for dental practices who are in-network with plans, but it doesn’t have to bog your practice down. In fact, working with an insurance verification company can greatly help your practice. How? Here are just four benefits that this partnership provides and that can take your practice to the next level.

Regardless of what industry you work in, there are going to be slow days every now and then. However, gaps in your schedule on a regular basis can put you in a financial bind. Not only are you not bringing in as much revenue as you could, but you’re also paying your team to sit around with less productivity. How can you minimize the number of gaps in your schedule? How can your team fill up the time doing tasks that help the practice? Follow these tips!

Think fast—how many of your patients would you consider active? How many haven’t scheduled the work for their treatments plans? Although these questions may put you on the spot, they lead to important information to have every now and then.

Chart auditing, the process of determining the answers to these questions, may not be your top priority right now, but it needs to be done on a regular basis to keep a finger on the pulse of your patient base. In this post, you’ll learn why chart auditing is essential for your business and how to use it to your advantage.

When you opened your specialty practice, you hand-picked your administrative team. Perhaps they had previous experience in your field, or perhaps they were eager to shift gears away from general practices. In any case, they are now highly trained and work efficiently.

But what do you do when your front desk workers go on vacation, take a lunch break, or are on maternity (or paternity) leave? You need someone to take phone calls that won’t require a lot of extra training. Good news! Dental Support Specialties serves not just general practices but also oral surgeries and periodontal practices. Keep reading to learn the challenges that come with a specialty practice and how we can help you continue to thrive and grow.

When it comes to bringing in leads, there are many marketing tools at your disposal. From pay-per-click campaigns to SEO tactics, from backlinking to direct mail marketing, you can spend a pretty penny on getting your brand in front of as many people as possible. However, these effective methods can only generate leads. It’s up to you and your staff to convert these leads into paying patients.

Marketing can be well worth the investment, but it only goes so far. Instead of spending more money on marketing, you could bring in more revenue by taking advantage of the leads you already get. How? By having Dental Support Specialties answer your phone calls and schedule appointments!

During an appointment, you put together a great treatment plan for a patient wanting a smile makeover. You perfect every detail and discuss the financial aspect, and they seem genuinely interested in moving forward. You’re excited to have a high-cost case, but when the patient still hasn’t scheduled the treatment, you wonder if you’ll ever get it done!

Follow-up calls are important to keep your connection with patients strong and to keep them coming back. But does that mean your front desk team has  to call each patient? No! Keep reading to learn when and how to have follow up calls that are actually effective.

During busy times, your dental practice is humming with activity—you’re examining and talking with patients, your hygienists are cleaning teeth, your front desk staff members are checking patients in. When you have a lot going on, it may seem like an inconvenience to add another task to the mix.

However, if you aren’t currently taking the time for insurance verification, it could end up hurting your practice. Why is this step important? What could happen to your relationship with patients if you don’t do this? Keep reading to find out!